"Common Property. Another potential source of better land use is the uncultivated land [12] now held in common by the municipality or by a group of private individuals. Common property is a complex question, deeply rooted in tradition and subject to a variety of opinions. Nevertheless, the very large area held in common (7.9 million hectares in 1958) requires that it be considered on its economic merits as well. The question must be considered whether this land is always subjected to the desirable rate of improvement under a common regime. In such regions as the rain belt in the north there are large areas held in common which, it seems probable, would attract private investment and move rapidly to higher uses if individually owned. Transfer of such land to private ownership could make an important contribution to the over-all productivity of agriculture. On the other hand, there is an even larger volume of uncultivated land (17.7 million hectares) now under private ownership, much of which cannot produce a profit however managed. Some of this land should be acquired by the State for conservation purposes, and the mission recommends that a small fund be established to this end. This two-way shift of land –from public to private and from private to public ownership– recluires, as a prior step, that the economic pattern of land use be studied carefully and projected over an extended future period."

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